What’s new from the HYLO® Sports family
The HYLO® Sports family has been up to a lot over the last week. We take a look back at the last seven days’ events and competitions featuring our athletes, teams and clubs.
Braunschweig spoil SVE’s Easter celebrations
SV Elversberg returned from their 2. Fußball-Bundesliga away game against Eintracht Braunschweig on Easter Saturday (30 March 2024) with a 5:0 defeat. ‘Overall, today was a weak performance’, was SVE coach Horst Steffen’s summary to ARD. This is a very good description of both the course of the game and its outcome. The Elversberg players had a terrible day, with not much going their way against Braunschweig, who are in danger of relegation. Ultimately, they deservedly returned back home to Saarland without any Easter gifts. More details about the game in our post-match report (LINK here).
Despite the defeat, SV Elversberg remain in eleventh place in the 2. Bundesliga with 35 points. The task now is to put it behind them and move forward. On Saturday (6 April) at 1 p.m., SVE will be hosting 1. FC Magdeburg for a home game at the URSAPHARM arena and seeking to show off their best side once again.
We have once again relaunched our betting game for this home match: you can place bets up to two minutes before kick-off and win attractive prizes. The betting game can be found here.
First performance review for Tim Hellwig at indoor world cup
Saturday (30 March 2024) saw the indoor world cup being held as part of the Liévin Triathlon Indoor Festival in Liévin, France. The venue for this was the Arena Stade Couvert Régional, a stadium for sport and music events. In the sold-out hall in front of 5,000 fans, pro triathlete Tim Hellwig enjoyed a welcome performance review after the original season kick-off – the WCTS series race in Abu Dhabi – was cancelled due to adverse weather conditions.
The world cup had several rounds. Each involved completing a 150-metre swim, three-kilometre cycle in the oval, and a kilometre run. The triathletes of HYLO® Team Saar said that this was a ‘hugely exciting format, and a race in a setting like this is absolutely worth the trip to France’.
The short rounds spread throughout the day were good practice for transitions and the little details in short-distance races, and put Tim in the grand final in the evening. He was not necessarily happy with how the final went, as he was overly distracted by the potential of a time penalty and lost his focus and concentration during the run following a good start in the swim and cycle. He was caught up by four competitors in the final metres and ultimately finished in fifth place (9:26).
However, this was a ‘good start to the season’ overall for Tim Hellwig – having already qualified for the Olympics, the triathlete is satisfied with his current form and looking forward to upcoming challenges with optimism.
Early end to the season for the Saarlouis Royals
The Damen-Basketball-Bundesliga season came to an early end for the Saarlouis Royals last Thursday (28 March 2024). In the playoff quarter finals for the German Championships at the Stadtgartenhalle in Saarlouis, Saarland’s basketball were beaten 63:71 (Q1: 11:20, Q2: 22:13, Q3: 13: 18, Q4: 17: 20) by the superior players of their opponents ALBA Berlin in the third game of a best-of-five series. This ended the series at 3:0, putting the capital club through to the semi-final with a lossless ‘sweep’.
In this first home game of the series, Saarlouis Royals were not able to build on their strong team performance during the first game, during which they were only very narrowly beaten in extra time. The Saarland team initially had a weak start to the game and went down 0:10. After a couple of tactical tweaks, the Saarland players gained a better foothold and were able to keep the score level for a long time. However, their strength then failed, and the Berlin team gained a small lead in the final part of the game that they were able to preserve through to the final whistle.
This therefore brings to a close a Bundesliga season with plenty of ups and downs for the Royals, who ultimately at least managed to achieve their minimum goal of reaching the playoffs, despite what was definitely an unsuccessful start.
Gabriel Clemens narrowly loses in Munich
On Saturday evening (30 March 2024), Saarland darts pro Gabriel Clemens lost to Dimitri Van den Bergh of Belgium 6:5 in the decider of an incredibly exciting match in the first round of the German Darts Grand Prix in Munich. This included three match darts for the Saarland player. Clemens provided a real darts thriller in Munich alongside the Belgian world number nine.
The 40-year-old initially forced a deciding leg at 4:5. At 80 points, Clemens hit the triple 20 on his first attempt. However, the former World Championship finalist then missed his first match darts on a double 10 and double 5.
Van den Bergh then overshot at 16 points remaining with a double 16. Clemens was not able to take advantage of this mistake, however: the ‘German Giant’ was back at 80 points, but missed with his third match dart. The UK Open winner from Belgium then closed the deal.
Things continue for Gaga on 8 and 9 April with the PDC Players Championship 7 + 8 in Leicester (GB).
European and league wins for Füchse Berlin
Last Tuesday (26 March 2024), Füchse Berlin clinched the playoff first leg against Kadetten Schaffhausen for entry into the EHF European League quarter finals. Coach Jaron Siewert’s team won 28:32 (15:16) in the sold-out BBC Arena Schaffhausen and thus laid a strong foundation for the second leg on Tuesday (2 April) on Füchse’s home turf. As is so often the case, the game’s best scorer was world-class handball player Mathias Gidsel, with nine goals. Goalkeeper Milosavljev provided strong support for the Berlin team with 17 saves.
The capital’s players did not establish a good foothold in the game, but were still a goal ahead at half time. Füchse were able to pull five points away by the middle of the second half, but subsequently allowed Kadetten back into the game thanks to three unnecessary mistakes. The game was then as tough as expected, but ultimately ended with a four-goal lead to ensure a good starting position for today’s second leg.
Füchse then enjoyed a second win on Easter Sunday (31 March 2024) in the LIQUI MOLY Handball-Bundesliga (HBL). In front of 7334 spectators for the home game in the Max-Schmeling-Halle, the Berlin team defeated HSG Wetzlar 32:30 (17:16). This means that coach Jaron Siewert’s team remain at the top of the LIQUI MOLY Handball-Bundesliga table. Danish player Mathias Gidsel was once again the top scorer of the match, with seven goals.
At the end of an intense match, coach Jaron Siewert was not particularly enthusiastic about the large number of goals conceded, but was still happy to have won the match against a strong Wetzlar team.
After their latest Bundesliga win, Füchse have very little time to recuperate: the EHF European League last-sixteen second leg against Kadetten Schaffhausen is at 8:45 p.m. tonight on their home turf. Their next HBL game will then be away in Göppingen on 4 April.
We are looking forward to upcoming appearances from our #hyloathletes and wish all of our HYLO® partners much luck and success.